Opinion

For opinion pieces on any topic.

Anniversary UN Partition Plan Torching of Palestine – Albert Einstein Running Commentary

by jay janson | Op/Ed

An Archetypical Anglo-American Colonial Crime Against Humanity!

In order to militarily penetrate the oil rich Middle East, a courageous and noble socialist Zionism and despised Holocaust survivors, denied refugee status, were used by an Anglo-American colonial business elite that was anti-Semitic in outlook, coldly indifferent and even complicit, during the Holocaust its investments in rearming Germany made possible.

Do Vermonters Also Have A Right To Investigate “Dominion Voting Systems”?

by CrisEricson2016 | Op/Ed

I have been a perennial losing political candidate in Vermont for many years. One year I really thought I saw election fraud. I was watching the votes coming in, and thousands of votes for me were suddenly cut in half. I wrote a blog post about it at the time which may still be wandering the internet somewhere.

I began to think that Vermont was the testing ground for vote fraud. Vermont has a very small population and if you are a losing candidate, and you are not within a certain tiny percent of the winner, then you have no grounds, no legal cause of action to complain, if for example, you came in 4th and should
have come in 3rd.

To The Community Safety Review Committee- An Apology From Me

by Brandie Starr | Op/Ed

Today I am writing to offer an apology to The Community Safety Review Committee, and all who have been involved in their work at any level.

I would like to do so by speaking about the first Municipal Diversity and Inclusion class I participated in early on in my time on the board. Within about the first five minutes of the class, we were told by the instructor, that we were about to learn that “being fair” doesn’t mean “treating the same” and that “equal” does not mean “equitable. The rest of the session discussed the importance of raising up voices who have less power within our systems and structures to level the playing field.

Unfortunately, we forgot that training when setting the date for the topic of Police Policies and Procedures. We missed an opportunity to change the game.

Vermont AFL-CIO Members/Delegates Authorize Executive Board To Call For General Strike!

by David Van Deusen | Politics

Vermont AFL-CIO Empowered To Call For General Strike If Trump Seeks To Carry Out Political Coup – Vote Overwhelmingly In Support!

At today’s Vermont AFL-CIO Convention (held over zoom due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Non 21), aprx 100 Delegates, rank & File union members, and select allies converged to consider the defense of democracy should there be a Trump coup. After much discussion, the assembled delegates overwhelmingly voted to authorize their elected Executive Board to call for a Vermont General Strike if democracy comes into crisis.
This historic authorization vote makes the Vermont AFL-CIO the first State Federation in the country to be on record ready to carry out a General Strike to defend democracy if Trump refuses to leave office.

Brattleboro Selectboard Meetings Have Become Too Long

by cgrotke | Op/Ed

Brattleboro Selectboard meetings have become very long. Too long, really.

It isn’t the number of items on the agenda. Even a short agenda can lead to a very long meeting.

Holding the meetings online might be part of the problem. 

First, it adds time to each meeting to explain how to participate. It adds time to invite people to speak and wait for them to work out technical issues. Almost every virtual meeting has delays due to the meeting being virtual. Sometimes they are short delays, but they add up.

It’s Not Over til the Fat Lady Sings, Pt 2

by tomaidh | Politics

The legendary “Fat Lady” was Kate Smith who had a wonderful contralto voice.

She sang “God Bless America” at the end of NY Yankee games for years.

Yankee catcher Yogi Berra changed the saying to “It’s not over till it’s over”, which is the situation we’re in right now with the presidential election.

Dealing with High Rental Costs in Brattleboro

by Lise | Op/Ed, Opinion

I’ve been following the rental debate involving the Brattleboro Selectboard and the Brattleboro Tenants Union, and finding aspects of it perplexing. Brattleboro is gentrifying — it’s a hip little town in an attractive part of the country and the trend in rents has been up in recent years. That won’t get better now that people with more money than we have are moving here to get away from Covid. The solution to the problem of rising rents for lower income people has typically been to move away to someplace more affordable. It seems weird to me that you would be expected to get a loan, subsidy, or grant to rent in Brattleboro. If the rents are too high, then many moderate income people won’t be able to live here.  Simple as that.

I Am Feeling Hopeful

by SK-B | Politics

Written at 9:29 pm, Wednesday

https://www.foxnews.com/

I feel that Fox has been preparing it’s audience to recognize a Biden win by letting straight-up reporting of the results speak for itself, without no hint of inflaming passions over the idea that the election is being stolen. Apparently Fox does not want to incite conflict. They are reporting what Trump says, matter-of-factly, and reporting that: Biden predicts victory, says he will govern as an ‘American president’

Unofficial Brattleboro General Election Results 2020

by Not Signed In | Politics

Good evening,

Please see attached for the “unofficial results” for Brattleboro’s General election. These are the results from the ballot tallies, not including write-in votes, and not including other towns’ results for the races.

Thanks to the amazing poll workers and the American Legion who made today possible! Considering our number of absentee voters, we had a lot of voters coming through the doors. The day was smooth and safe!

Thank you,

Hilary

Criminally Responsible Americans Vote for Commander of Their Worldwide Genocidal Killing Machine

by jay janson | Op/Ed

Good people of the 3rd World should not let themselves be taken in by worldwide satellite beamed CIA-fed media prattling on continuously about American democracy during ongoing presidential elections. Sadly, Americans are duped into participating in elections that back crimes against humanity ordered by the ruling genocidal Wall St. plutocracy which militarily and financially plunders 3rd World humanity.

We Need A New COVID World View

by RDavis | Op/Ed

One of the consequences of this lingering pandemic is a lack of perspective by too many people. Forget about the 30 percent of American sycophants of Trump because they never had a healthy perspective to lose.

What I am talking about is the ability of caring human beings to forget about how they fit into the overall scheme of things when it comes to daily life. As we temporarily lose some of the freedoms we once enjoyed we tend to forget that most of us really do not have it that bad compared to many other people in this country and around the world.

Scott vs Zuckerman

by tomaidh | Politics

I’m generally not critical of Governor Phil Scott, but he HAS been using his veto pen a little too much.

Governor Phil Scott’s recent vetoes :
• Global Warming Solutions Act
• Minimum wage increase
• Reduction in penalties for possession of marijuana
• 24-hour waiting period for handgun purchases
• Family and medical leave
• Systemic Racism Mitigation Oversight Act
• Regulation of toxic substances

Vermont AFL-CIO To Hold General Strike Authorization Vote In Event of Trump Coup – Labor Will Defend Democracy

by David Van Deusen | Politics

10/25/2020, Montpelier, Vermont – The Executive Board of the VT AFL-CIO, representing 10,000 unionized public and private sector workers across Vermont, shall hold a General Strike Authorization Vote at its November 21, 2020, Convention should the U.S. Presidential election deliver a winner, but should the losing candidate refuse to commit to a peaceful transfer of power on Inauguration Day, January 20th, 2021. To our west, In New York, the Rochester and Troy Central Labor Councils of the AFL-CIO have already called for the National AFL-CIO to call for a General Strike in the event of a coup.

For months, Donald Trump has repeatedly refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power in the event that Democrat Joe Biden wins the election. Trump has also made the irresponsible claim that the only way Biden can win is if the election is “rigged.” Trump is presently losing in the polls to Biden in a majority of battleground states, and is behind in national polls by 8.1% (with a national approval rating of just 44.4%). Trump has also told violent neo-fascist organizations to “stand by” while previously saying that “good people” marched with the KKK and other extreme right groups in Charlottesville. It has further been reported by The Atlantic that Republican officials in a number of states, including Pennsylvania, are discussing having state legislators send pro-Trump delegates to the Electoral College even if voters in their state give Biden the win. Together, these actions give the appearance of what amounts to a potential Trump led coup attempt following a Biden win on November 3 (or when all the votes are counted thereafter).

The Word “Race” Has Two Definitions!

by CrisEricson2016 | Politics

Wow, the word “race” has two definitions!

When, Why, Where and How did the Democrats change from being pro-Slavery while the Republicans were anti-Slavery? This topic is going around the internet now that we are so close to the November 3rd pre-climax of the 2020 Presidential race, waiting in agony for all of the many law suits filed in different states about mail-in ballots to be resolved in the months to come before we have a certified winner.

Fraudulent Election?

by tomaidh | Op/Ed

It’s less than 3 weeks to Election Day, and polls indicate that Biden is leading by double digits.

Trump hates to lose, and he is acutely aware of these polls.

In these days before the election, we hear allegations that Trump will attempt to retain power through voter suppression. There is a strategy to suppress voter turnout by purging voters – especially inner-city voters – and to suppress mail-in voting.

Happiness

by tomaidh | Politics

At a White House news conference, (Monday, Oct 5 ), President Donald Trump said that top Defense Department leaders want to keep waging wars in order to keep defense contractors “happy.”

“The top people in the Pentagon probably aren’t (happy) because they want to do nothing but fight wars so all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy.”

Does David Zuckerman Have a Sense of Self?

by Dfk-b | Politics

I just received the following solicitation from David Zuckerman’s campaign. Below it is a copy of the email that I sent in response:

On Fri, Oct 9, 2020 at 8:01 AM Emilie, Zuckerman for VT wrote:

Donna,

I have worked with David for many years. Throughout that time, Vermonters have often asked me, “Why doesn’t David cut his hair?”